At least 30 workers of an apparel factory were injured in sporadic clashes with law enforcers in the Shibu Market area at Fatullah in Narayanganj on Monday night.
Sources said that the clashes began at Metro Knitwear as a general manager, who is a man, entered a women’s prayer room and picked up a quarrel with the workers. A rumour then ran rife that the general manager tortured a woman worker.
All the workers then gathered in a place and rallied against the administration.
Personnel of the Fatullah police station and the industrial police unit reached the place at night.
Labour leaders, officials of Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters’ Association and the factory management sat at a meeting about 9:00pm in the BKMEA office.
Another rumour that the factory management confined some workers spread at the time. All the workers then took to the streets and vandalised vehicles and
the factory.
The police fired teargas shells and charged with truncheons at the workers to disperse them. Sporadic clashes continued till midnight.
Industrial Police unit 4 director Mahbubul Alam said that the situation was under control on Tuesday after a decision had been reached that the authorities would meet all the demands of the workers. The factory, which remained closed on Tuesday will resume today, he said.
The Fatullah police officer-in-charge, Md. Abdul Matin, said that lawmen had been deployed there.